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REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 

ON HISTORICAL RESEARCH 

AND MARKING LOCAL 

SITES OF THE 



V 



Daughters of the American 
Revolution 



Worcester, Massachusetts 
January 26, 1903 




VNi'\'^ 



Publ. 

30Je^03 



For scores of years it has been a 
much-discussed question among local 
antiquarians, whether John Adams, 
Worcester's most illustrious school- 
master, during his service here, from 
1755—1758, taught in the first rude build- 
ing erected near Lincoln Square or in 
the second schoolhouse in the 
vicinity of Main and Mechanic 
streets. While the weight of argument 
from published sources has favored the 
former location, still many a mind has 
harbored doubts on the subject, or held 
tenaciously to the second school-house 
as the field of the young student's 
labors, as he here combined the roles 
of pedagogue and law-reader. To com- 
plicate decision there were certain 
vague, confusing statements in the two 
most widely-read volumes of local his- 
tory, -Lincoln's History p. 252, and Caleb 
Wall's "Reminiscences." (p. 91 and 
171.) 

In view of the wish of the Colonel 
Timothy Bigelow Chapter, Daughters 
of the American Revolution, to place 
a memorial tablet upon the site of the 
school-house where this Revolutionary 
hero taught in Worcester, the Commit- 
tee on Historical Research of the 
Chapter has made exhaustive efforts 
to settle. by facts and se- 
quences, the disputed point of the lo- 
cation of his school-house. From all 
available warrants, records, diaries and 
other data, important facts and side- 
lights have been gathered and collat- 
ed to form an argument as conclusive 
as possible. The history of the schools 
and school-houses, in every important 
town act, have been cited, from the 
real beginnings of free instruction to 
3 



1770. The effort has been to allow the 
records to make their own argument, 
with only a few necessary explana- 
tions. References are to the volumes 
and pages of the original Town Records 
at the City Hall. In their published 
form, edited by Mr. Franklin P. Rice, 
they have been of great value for ref- 
erence but the omission of the war- 
rants, in the main, in these published 
volumes, necessitated return to the 
original manuscripts. The first deci- 
sive act for the creation of a free 
school in Worcester was in 1726, April 
4,-Vol. 1: pp. 39-40) "Voted that ye 
Selectmen forthwith take care & pro- 
vide a sufficient Schoole for ye Edu- 
cation of Youth in ye Town of Wor- 
cester." Then followed the agreement 
with Jonas Rice "to teach such children 
and Youth as any of ye Inhabitants 
should send to him to read and write 
as ye Law directs. — And to keep such 
schoole untill ye fifteenth Day of De- 
cember next ensuing to Date hearof, 
sd. Schoole to be suported at ye Town's 
Charge". The experiment seemed un- 
satisfactory, probably because of ex- 
pense, and December 19 following, the 
record reads, -(Vol. 1: p. 47) "Voted 
that ye Town will not have a Schoole, 
it past on ye negitive",-a droll, para- 
doxical mode of recording many a 
negative vote. As a result of such 
action the town was "presented", - 
fined for violation of the state law re- 
quiring a free school in each town. In 
January, 1727, sums were voted as as- 
sessments "for and towards ye support 
of ye Schoole in sd. Town" and also to 
meet "charge of presentment for want 
of a school". 

4 



After this permanent establishment 
of a town school in 1727 there were 
yearly appropriations for the support of 
the schools, varying in amounts, men- 
tion of an occasional school-master by 
name, with record of his payment, or 
more often directions, that "he shall 

repair to the house of , there to 

keep school until" some prescribed date. 
In other words, there was no specific 
building; the school was "a moving 
school," a feature continued even after 
the first school-house was built, as will 
be noted later. 

The first direct mention of a school- 
house was in the warrant and vote of 
October 7. 1729 (Vol. I: d. 67): "Voted, 
If the town will build a Schoole house 
it passed on the neggative." This 
seemed to delay further action for four 
years. Meanwhile, as the population 
increased in the outlying districts 
of the town, instruction must be pro- 
vided for these several "Quarters or 
Skirts;" hence in April 13, 1731 (Vol. I: 
pp. 77-78) it was decreed that "a suit- 
able number of dames, not exceeding 
five, was to be provided by ye Select- 
men at ye charge of ye town for ye 
teaching of small children to read," etc. 

Again, in 1733, the question of the 
school-house came again to the fore. 
In the warrant for a meeting, May 15, 
1733 (Vol. I: p. 98) was an article "to 
see if ye Town will Duild a Schoole 
House;" and "at sd. meeting it was 
voted that there be a Schoolhouse Built 
at ye charge of ye Town and placed in 
ye Centre of ye South half of ye Town 
or as near as may be with conveniency 
having regard to suitable ground for 
such a house to stand on and Whear 



Land may be purchised in case it falls 
in men's narticular property, provided 
ye purchis may be on Reasonable 
Terms" (p. 101). Then follow the votes 
of dimensions of this first schoolhouse 
whose erection was yet delayed many 
years. It was to be 24 feet long-, 16 
feet wide and 7 feet "studd," to be com- 
pleatly furnished with a good Chimney, 
Glass." etc. As additional action to 
further the matter. "Collo. John Chand- 
ler was appointed Surveyor to find the 
Centre of the south half of the Town." 
The next significant record is two 
years later, — in the warrant for May, 
1735 (Vol. I: p. 126)— "To see if ye town 
Reconsider a Vote formerly passed for 
Building a Schoole house in ye Centre 
of ye South half of ye town and in 
lieu thearof Build one whear ye Cen- 
tre Line may strike the Countrey Road 
or as near there as ye Land will alow 
of for a Convenienent Spot as may be 
Reasonably purchised for that End and 
to grant money for erecting the same." 
At the meeting- thus called, (pp. 103-4) 
"John Chandler Jun. Esqr. Surveyor 
and ye Comitte appointed to find wheai 
a Centre Line will striKe the Countrey 
Road in order to Build a school-house 
thear or as near as may be in some 
Suitable place made Report and there- 
upon ye Town come into ye following 
Vote, vizt: 

"Voted that ye Committee or those 
that still Live in the Town formery ap- 
ointed to build a school house do as 
soon as may be. erect and finish a 
Schoolhouse of Dimensions formerly 
voted, at or near the northwest corner 
of ye Land of John Chandler, Jun. 
Esqr. whear he now dwells and as his 

6 



fence now stands and that ye charge 
thereof be payed out of the overplus 
money now Lyins in ye hands of ye 
Town Treasurer as appears by ye Set- 
tlement of ye Treasurer's Last ac- 
compts and ye Selectmen are directed 
to give order accordingly." 

The tone of the above vote would 
indicate that there was some impa- 
tience at the delay in providing any 
schoolhouse. but action in those days 
was never precipitate. Moreover, men- 
tion is made of some necessary correc- 
tions in the surveys that had been 
made. Again, two years passed, then 
in the warrant calling a meeting for 
June 21, 1738. was a definite and con- 
clusive article (Vol. I: pp. 104-5): 
"Whereas application has been made 
to ye Selectmen of sd. Town setting 
forth that they apprehend ye place 
which ye Town pitched upon by their 
Last Vote to set ye schoolhouse on is 
very inconvenient and that more prop- 
er place may be found between the 
courthouse and ye bridge below ye full- 
ing-mills." At the meeting thus called, 
with Palmer Golding as Moderator (p. 
165) it was "Voted that ye Town Recon- 
sider their Vote last passed for seting 
ye Schoolhouse and order by their 
vote that ye schoolhouse be built or set 
up between ye courthouse and the 
bridge below ye fulling-mills either 
above or below the Road." The erec- 
tion of the building must have been be- 
gun at once, after this action, for in 
the "Records of the Proprietors," is a 
reference in November, 1738, to a tract 
of land owned by William Jennison, 
purchasable near whear the school- 
house is now building. Moreover, in 
7 



appropriating money for tlie support of 
the schools the next year, 1739, a por- 
tion was to be used "for keeping a 
Grammar School in ye present school- 
house" (Vol. II: p. 8). 

During the next decade the votes re- 
lating to the schools are not of great 
moment and there is no mention of any 
new building. In 1748 there were sug- 
gestions for district schoolhouses (Vol. 
II: p. 146), but no action thereon of pos- 
itive nature. The references during 
these years and later to the leasing and 
selling of "school lands" has no bearing 
upon the location of the schoolhouses, — 
such portions, called "ministerial and 
schoole lands" had been early dis- 
tributed in the history of the settle- 
ment and their rental or sale con- 
tributed to the support of the minister 
and schools. 

In 1752 there were two significant ar- 
ticles in the warrant for the March 
meeting (Vol. II: pp. 179-180), "To see 
if ye Town will give order to some per- 
son or persons to Repair Chimney in ye 
Schoolhouse in ye Centre of ye Town" 
and "To see if ye Town will 
build ye Schoolhouses in ye Quarters 
of ye Town and if they shall agree to 
Build them to chuse some suitable Per- 
sons to see same efected and likewise 
to see if ye Town will grant a suit- 
able & Sufficient Sum for ye building 
of ye schoolhouses aforesaid." The 
sequel follows, — a double negative ac- 
tion, — "After considerable debate on ye 
Second and third articles in ye war- 
rant for Repairing the old schoolhouse 
and building new ones, ye Question was 
put whether ye town would grant a 



sum for Services 'or ether of them 
and it passed in ye negative." 

While no vote for new or improved 
schoolhouses was decreed this year, 
1752, an Important measure was passed, 
doubtless to meet the exactions of the 
lavv^ relative to grammar schools and 
extended periods of teaching. The vote 
follows, "that the Inhabitants of the 
Centre extending one mile and a half 
around ye Schoolhouse should have al- 
owed them their proportion of money 
for the support of teaching, provided 
they do, bona fide, keep a grammar 
school the whole year; and if their 
proportion of money will procure a 
master more than 12 weeks, the usual 
time they have of late had schooling, 
then any person may nave liberty to 
send children afterwards." This vote, 
with no reference to any schoolhouse, 
excused the inhabitants of the immedi- 
ate centre of the town from contribut- 
ing to the general support of the dis- 
trict schools, provided they would 
maintain a grammar school, — not a 
"moving school," — in the Centre of the 
Town for the entire year. Such, of 
course, would be kept in the only build- 
ing yet erected, near our present Lin- 
coln Square. The vote relating to the 
maintenance of a grammar school, 
above cited, is followed m Lincoln's 
History of Worcester (p. 252) by an 
indefinite statement which has caused 
much query and misinterpretation, 
"About this period a schoolhouse with 
two rooms was erected py James Put- 
nam, John Chandler and other public- 
spirited individuals," etc. All evidence, 
here given, would indicate that such a 
building was not erected until after 
9 



1763, — quite remote from "about this pe- 
riod," 1752. 

In 1753 and 1754 there were no votes 
relating to schoolhouses. The sum ap- 
propriated for support of the schools 
was increased from £60 to £75, in 1755. 
The master engaged for that year was 
John Adams, by his own statement the 
Town schoolmaster, not teacher in any 
private house or school, had such ex- 
isted at the time. He was master of 
the grammar school, kept in the only 
building used as a school in the centre 
of the town. Possibly at the town 
meeting, 1755, three pages of whose 
records have been lost, action was ta- 
ken to repair the chimney in this old 
schoolhouse, though three years be- 
fore a negative action had been re- 
corded. In 1756 (Vol. Ill: p. 36) is a 
record, "To John Chandler Jun. for 
makeing stone) — (possibly de- 
ciphered "new"), — "chimney in the 
schoolhouse and finding- all the ma- 
terials and paying ye workmen, one 
pound, two shillings and five pence." 
By good fortune, one may read, at this 
same time, in John Adams' diary, an 
entry to the effect "All this past week 
my designs have been interrupted by 
the Troubles & Confusion of ye House. 
I shall be able to resume the Thread 
of my studies I hope now" (Original 
Diary, Vol. I: p. 24). 

Again, in this same diary, under date 
of February 13, 1756, is a note of 
marked interest and importance in our 
search, — "Supped at Major Gardiner's 
and engaged to keep school at Bristol, 
provided "Worcester people at their en- 
suring March meeting should change 
this into a moving school, not other- 
10 



wise." Here is proof that John Adams 
was the town schoolmaster and that 
discussion was rife as to the advisabil- 
ity of continuing- the Increased appro- 
priation for a grammar school the en- 
tire year. At the March meeting how- 
ever, there was an allowance of the 
usual sum and John Adams remained 
in Worcester, combining his teaching 
with law-studies at Judge Putnam's of- 
fice. 

The crucial point in discussion during 
the years of 1756-7 was the desirability 
of erecting a new schoolhouse^ in the 
centre of the town. To this question 
the warrant and vote, here given, fur- 
nish conclusive evidence that the mat- 
ter was definitely settled and that no 
new building was erected during these 
years of John Adams' teaching. A spe- 
cial town meeting was called to act 
upon this matter October 17, 1757. The 
warrant reads in part: "To vote a sum 
of money sufficient to build a School 
House in ye middle of the Town and 
to build and pay for those already 
Built in the several quarters of ye 
Town and the money so granted to be 
assessed upon all the Inhabitants of sd. 
Town and when paid those of the In- 
habitants Living within one mile and 
an half of the School House in the Mid- 
dle of the Town and that have usually 
paid towards Supporting such Schools 
in sd. Quarters to have there own 
money for ye Building sd. SchoolHouse, 
and the several Quarters that have paid 
towards Supporting such Schools in sd. 
Quarters to have there own money and 
in the same proportion as they have 
had money for the Supporting sd. 
Schools in sd. Quarters, and to 
11 



appoint a Committee for Building sd. 
Schoolhouse and any otlier thing that 
may be necessary in Building and Com- 
pleating sd. Houses." etc. This ex- 
haustive, involved warrant, whose 
meaning is apparent after careful read- 
ing, occupies far more space upon the 
record page than was required to report 
the action. Here is the record, crowded 
into a minimum space in the original 
page (Vol. in, p. 59): The Question 
being put if the Town would act on the 
Subject Matter contained in the war- 
rant for calling this meeting «& it 
passed in the negative." 

In May, 1759, the year after John 
Adams had finished teaching in Wor- 
cester, the question was raised as to the 
advisability of further economy in 
school appropriation. To aid in the 
economies necessary to build a new 
meeting-house, a project already 
strongly urged, in May, 1759, "The 
Town took under consideration the 
votes passed in March Last relateing to 
the schools and the grant to support 
them" (seventy-five pounds) and 
"thereupon voted to- Reconsider sd. 
Votes,— also Voted that the School be 
a moving school the Present year & to 
be kept in the same way & manner that 
the school used to be kept in before 
March 1752 & that the sum of forty- 
three pounds be granted for the sup- 
port of the schools the present year & 
that the Parts of the Town commonly 
called Smiths' and Parkers' Rows have 
the sums allowed to them as usual to 
be Laid out in Schooling as they used 
to have before March, 1752." This ret- 
rograde movement continued for two 
years, discussion arising at each meet- 
ing upon the appropriation of forty- 
12 



three or seventy-five pounds, with de- 
cision for the smaller sum. In 1763 came 
the climax; apparently the liberal ele- 
ment in the town would no longer sub- 
mit to the inadequate appropriations 
and accommodations. In the warrant 
calling a meeting for March 4, 1763, is 
an article — "To see if the Town will 
give Liberty to James Putnam, Esq. & 
others to set up a schoolhouse on some 
Part of ye Common That may be con- 
venient for That Purpose and Appoint 
a Committe to Give a Deed of Such 
Land as may be necessary for ye Use 
of sd. House, They Paying What it is 
Worth." The permission was granted— 
(Vol. Ill, pp. 125-6): "Voted that James 
Putnam «fe others have Liberty to set 
up a SchoolHouse on such part of the 
Town's Land as the Selectmen Shall 
Think Proner." 

This second schoolhouse in the centre 
of the town of Worcester, built by pri- 
vate individuals, was finished in 1765, 
seven years after John Adams had left 
Worcester. In the warrant for the 
March meeting, 1765 ( Vol. Ill, p. 164), 
is an article— "The Town having by a 
Vote given Liberty to Gardiner Chan- 
dler & others to Build a School-House 
on ye Town Land «&they having Built 
ye Same on the Northwest corner of 
the School Land, for ye Town to vote 
their approbation thereof." Thus is 
located the second building, erected be- 
tween 1763-1765. near the union of Me- 
chanic and Elm streets with Main. 

One further record is of import— the 
vote at the March meeting, 1769 (Vol. 
Ill, p. 231)— "Voted that William 
Young, etc. be a Committe to treat with 
ye Proprietors of ye Grammar School 
13 



in Town & to agree with them upon 
what terms they will allow said School 
to be considered as the Town's Gram- 
mar School for ye Benefit of such Per- 
sons in Town as Shall Incline to send 
their children there & also to consult 
some Plan for Keeping English 
Schools in sd. Town." The committee 
thus appointed reported their agree- 
ment, ratified by the town, and six 
pounds of the seventy-six appropriated 
for schools was "granted to ye Pro- 
prietors of ye Grammar School ye cur- 
rant year, said Proprietors haveing en- 
gaged that said Gramer School shall be 
free for Learning ye Languages & chil- 
dren be admitted by said Proprietors to 
have ye same Privileges & upon ye 
same terms in said School as ye Chil- 
dren of said Proprietors." 

The above records seem to es- 
tablish the fact that John Adams 
taught in the first schoolhouse, 
commonly known as the Lincoln 
Square schoolhouse. Through the 
kindness and research of Mr. Daniel 
Kent, the approximate location of this 
first building, the site of the school 
where John Adams taught, has been 
effected. The deeds and their sequen- 
tial argument follow: 

It is a difficult undertaking to ascer- 
tain today the exact location, in the 
center of a large city, of a school house 
(16x24) built in 1738 when the bounds 
and descriptions, if given at all, were 
usually very indefinite. Fortunately, 
however, the Land Records preserve 
many important facts and enable us to 
reproduce the old divisions of land and 
location of many of the early buildings. 

14 



On February 1, 1731-2 William Jeni- 
son, an owner of large tracts of land 
in Worcester, deeded to Jonathan 
Houghton, Treasurer of Worcester 
County, for the consideration of "my 
Goodwill and Regard which I have for 
& bear towards ye said County of Wor- 
cester and for Accommodating them 
with a Sutable and Convenient place 
for building a Court house upon, &ct,"' 
a certain piece of land on the west side 
of Main street 1% rods wide at the 
southern end and 4 rods at the northern 
and about 18 rods in length. The loca- 
tion of this lot began nearly in front 
of the Second Parish Church, extending 
north to a point a little beyond the 
center of the present Court House and 
included the land now occupied by the 
street and terrace in front of said Court 
House. 

On November 27, 1738 the same Wil- 
liam Jenison conveyed to the Town of 
Worcester "for ye Conveniancy of set- 
ting a scholl House" a piece of land 
"where ye present Scholl House is now 
building near ye Court House" and 
bounded"southerly on ye County land 
easterly on ye County road westerly on 
my own land as ye fence now stands 
northerly on my own land& to Extend 
twenty feet Northerly from said Schol 
House & said Northerly bounds to be 
parrallell with ye North side said 
school House." This deed was made 
164 years ago and would seem to con- 
tain information of but little value in 
locating the exact position of the school 
house. It does, however, contain one 
item of great importance, which is that 
the north end of the school house was 
twenty feet south of the north line 

15 



of the school lot and parallel with it. 
This remained the property of the 
Town of Worcester until March 30, 1801 
when in accordance with a vote of the 
Town it v/as sold to Samuel Chandler 
and by him on the same day conveyed 
to the County of Worcester. 

The key to the situation now depends 
on locating the north line of the school 
lot. This is found in a deed given by 
Luke Brown, Jr., to Samuel and Ste- 
phen Salisbury, April 12, 1797. The des- 
cription begins on what is now Salis- 
bury street about 15 rods north of 
Highland street and thence runs south- 
erly on the "County road leading to 
Holden to the corner of Abraham Lin- 
coln's store by the County or post 
road" (now Main street), Then after 
bounding on the north and west sides 
of the store lot it bounds "West twenty 
degrees North twenty three rods. This 
last line bounds southwardly partly on 
land said to be purchased by the Town 
of Worcester for a school house and 
partly on land of Isaiah Thomas." 
This is the only deed on record which 
describes this course and from which 
it would be possible to locate the north 
line of the school house lot; the only 
reference in the records from which we 
can determine the exact location of the 
school house north and south. 

Where was this line? On January 27, 
1797 Robert M. Peck sold to Isaiah 
Thomas a piece of land which bounded 
twenty rods northerly on Luke Brown, 
Jr's. land. This is the Thomas land 
mentioned in the Brown-Salisbury 
deed and bounded easterly on the school 
house lot. 

On April 6, 1801 Isaiah Thomas sold 

16 



to the County of Worcester the land 
on which was built the old brick Court 
house. The northeast corner of the lot 
was "about twenty-four feet northerly 
of where the underpining stones are to 
be placed for the new Court house" and 
one foot east of the southeast corner of 
a dwelling house. This lot was bound- 
ed east on County land. 

On the 24th. of November 1807 Isaiah 
Thomas sold to Clark Whittemore a 
parcel of land, adjoining the land he 
conveyed to the county, the south line 
of which was 24 feet north of and paral- 
lel to the north side of the brick Court 
House and at the southeast cor- 
ner distant 32 feet south from the 
Salisbury land which we have seen was 
the north line of the school house lot. 
This lot Mr. Whittemore sold March 2, 
1833 to Stephen Salisbury and on March 
10, 1851 Mr. Salisbury conveyed this lot, 
with other land situated north of it 
bounding on Highland street, to the 
American Antiquarian Society on 
which land the present Antiquarian 
Hall was erected. The southeast cor- 
ner of the lot is marked by a large 
stone post by the sidewalk, this post 
being 32 feet south of the north line of 
the school house lot. Thus we have lo- 
cated the northerly line of the school 

house lot. 

The north side of the school house, 
according to Jenison's deed, it will be 
remembered, was 20 feet south of the 
north line of the lot and parallel with 
it The north side of the school house, 
therefore, was located on a line running 
east from a point 12 feet north of the 
stone post at the southeast corner of 
the Antiquarian Society's land and, as 
17 



the school house was 16x24, it must 
have extended either four or 12 feet in 
front of the present Court House prop- 
erty, this depending on how the build- 
ing stood. 

The northeasterly corner of the land 
sold by Peck to Thomas was not quite 
five rods from the County road. The 
northerly end of the Court House 
property, as deeded by Jeni- 
son, was 4 rods wide and bounded east- 
erly on the County road, so that the 
school house must have stood some- 
where directly in front of the stone post 
and between it and Main Street. 

It has generally been an accepted 
tradition that the first school house 
stood level with Main street, with a 
high bank back of it. The records at 
the Registry of Deeds do not support 
this tradition. On December 3, 1773, in 
a deed from Luke Brown, Sr.'s admin- 
istrator to William Paine, physician, of 
Worcester, Levi Shepard, apothecary, 
and Ebenezer Hunt, physician, both of 
Northampton, conveying the land on 
which they had built an apothecary 
shop, it says, "with the Priviledges of 
Passing around said Shop & for Re- 
pairing the Same from time to Time as 
Need may Require «& for Secureing the 
Banks on the Southerly, Westerly & 
Northerly Parts of said Shop from Cav- 
ing in Upon it." 

It will be remembered that the deed 
from Brown, Junior, to the Salisburys 
bounded on this store, at that time 
owned by Abraham Lincoln, and that 
the north line of the schoolhouse lot 
started at the southwest corner of the 
store. If there was a bank sufficiently 
high on the south side of the store to 

18 



require a reservation on account of its 
liability to cave in. it would hardly 
seem probable that the school house 
situated 20 feet south of this bank could 
have been on a level with the street. 
It must have been situated on the top 
of the bank, and probably its exact lo- 
cation was on land now used for the 
street in front of the present Court 
House. This street was laid out as a 
public highway "from the east front 
of the Court House to the Holden 
Road" March 8. 1816. 

We have, therefore, established the 
fact that the first school house in Wor- 
cester stood directly in front of the 
stone post at the southeast corner of 
the Antiquarian lot. 

(Signed) 

ANNIE RUSSELL MARBLE, 
HARRIETTE M. FORBES, 
FLORENCE WAITE SMITH 
MARY JILLSON PARKER, 
MARY E. WHIPPLE, 
EMMA F. WAITE. 



la 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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Commonwcaltb 

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OLIVER 
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Worcester 
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